


And Refuse to Call Love Sin

by lferion



Category: Highlander: The Series
Genre: Academia, Community: lgbtfest, M/M, Pre-Canon, watcher-fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-11
Updated: 2009-05-11
Packaged: 2017-10-07 08:42:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lferion/pseuds/lferion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They have a class for that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Refuse to Call Love Sin

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Prompt 790: - Highlander, Joe Dawson. By their first few lifetimes, most Immortals have are faced with the fact that sexuality is fluid, and so is the concept of sin. And Watchers have to deal with that - but they don't have centuries to get used to it.
> 
> Many thanks to Auberus for encouragement, editing and commentary.

_Watcher Academy, Geneva, 1969, 'Introduction to Immortal Mores, Ethics and Attitudes' _

"Any Immortal past his second century, and most past their first, will have learned to be flexible in his tastes, his attitudes about what is right and wrong, what is sacred and what profane. What they eat, wear, work at, how and what they worship, who they have sex with and how they have it. Immortals are not like us; they have the luxury of time to try things out, explore options that we mere short-timers will never need or want to. No matter what your personal opinion about these things may be, you, as a Watcher, cannot let them interfere with your accurate and unbiased observations and reports."

_The problem isn't that Immortals aren't like us, it's that they are **too** like us_, thought Joseph Dawson, watcher-trainee, ex-marine, ex-able-bodied man, as he sat in the uncomfortable chair in the small lecture-room. He'd been in the army, in locker-rooms, in situations where fear or adrenaline or alcohol or sheer high spirits and the proximity of another person had made sex into an imperative; the body wanted what it wanted, and sometimes the mind was just along for the ride. What he'd seen of Immortals so far certainly didn't show them being any different in _that_ respect.

The weedy boy with the lamentable tie was predictably shocked. "You mean, they are all perverts?"

Joe was beginning to wonder if the kid wasn't protesting too much, but the note of disgust in his voice was genuine. The lecturer had obviously been expecting something like it, and waited for the scattered coughs-that-weren't-laughs to die down. Joe was not one of them; had felt no impulse toward levity. He was very interested to hear what the man had to say in answer, though.

"Define 'perversion' Mr. Phillips." The look he bent on the boy was stern, and the statement was not rhetorical, though he didn't wait for an answer before widening his gaze to encompass all twelve of them in the room. "Insofar as immortality 'goes against' the 'natural order' of human life, yes, they are. By any other definition, no, they are not. That is precisely my point. For them, all ethics and morals are situational, with the single exception of the Rules of the Game."

"Dr Adjedian? I can understand why most of those things would be changeable, but why would someone change who they sleep with? I mean, I assume you mean something other than finding a new woman to be with when taking on a new identity or moving or the like. Or a different man, if they're a woman. But I'm not sure what you do mean." Taylor Farris was as different from Phillips as one could imagine, and it was obvious that he really did not understand what either Phillips or the lecturer had meant. Not only that, he sincerely wanted to know the answer.

_How did one get through a doctorate at a major university and not encounter an 'alternative lifestyle'?_ Joe wondered. _Especially **these** days, with free love and flower power and the sexual revolution on every campus? Even if that degree was something obscure in the sciences?_ On the other hand, Farris was remarkably brave to ask the question in class, and not wait for a private moment. Though this wasn't the first time he'd put seeking knowledge above possible embarrassment. Joe liked him the better for it.

Dr A took this question too in stride. "I am speaking of homosexual relations, or, more properly, bisexual. Men with men as well as women, women with women as well as men. Having more than one partner at once, taking on multiple sexual roles over time." He paused, and Joe could see that Farris was much struck, that this was something he had never considered before. "While most Immortals do have preferences, even the ones on the far ends of Kinsey's useful scale will experiment. Carter Whelan has been married. Hugh FitzCairn and Duncan MacLeod have been lovers on more than one occasion."

There was a suppressed snort from the other side of the room. Dr A gave the boy another look. "Is this going to be problem for you, Mr Phillips? Research and Administration, not to mention Plant, Facilities and Sanitation would perhaps be less challenging to your sensibilities, and are always in need of personnel."

"Oh, no Dr. Adjedian. Not a problem at all."

At the end of the class, Farris was still looking very thoughtful, and Joe took pity on him. "Join me for dinner?" Farris nodded, and was silent all the way to the dining hall, but Joe noticed (with considerable relief) that he made an effort to measure his stride to Joe's own slow pace.

Dinner turned into a study session in Joe's room, and their conversation ranged from how they'd both ended up in the Watchers to speculation on what quickenings actually consisted of. After the second beer Farris had relaxed enough to kick his shoes off and make himself comfortable on Joe's bed (the dorms were not over-provided with furniture, and while Joe had a slightly larger room than most of the singles, his 'guest chair' was more the type to discourage visitors than otherwise). He was illustrating some point of his argument with extravagant hand-gestures, and Joe was abruptly aware that when he wasn't tense with worry and self-consciousness, he had a gawky-graceful kind of beauty.

Joe had known seemingly forever that he was as interested in men as he was in women, but a Catholic upbringing had kept him from much more than locker room antics with the guys in his squad, necking at the movies with the girls. He wasn't a virgin, precisely, either way, though since he'd come back from the war there hadn't been much of anything at all other than his own right hand. (He'd been glad enough to have that, once he'd recovered enough to notice the pert red-headed nurse, the quiet competence and wonderful ass of the physical therapist.) It seemed likely that Farris had never been with anyone at all.

"Joe?"

Joe started and felt his cheeks heat when he realized where his gaze had been. He looked up at Farris' face, suddenly afraid of what he would see there. Farris was blushing too, but his expression was more quizzical-confusion than any kind of disgust or distress. And the shape in his pants certainly looked interested. Joe felt his own groin stir, refusing to glance down. "Yeah?"

"The lecture today, I'd never...." Farris stopped, swallowed, glanced at the shut door. "But you didn't seem ... surprised."

Joe nodded, not finding words, not wanting to interrupt.

"I've been thinking, and ... feeling, and ... wondering, and ...." Farris stopped again, his face flaming; the bulge in the fabric twitched. Joe's own pulse was beginning to race. Farris' hands were making shapes in the air. "You didn't laugh. So I thought I'd ask. If you've .... If you'd ... Show me. What. How. Um." His adam's apple bobbed. His eyelashes were a ridiculously long fringe against his cheeks.

Joe was surprised now, though, surprised and unexpectedly warmed; feeling a startling glow of anticipation and happiness. Not just at being desired, but being trusted as well. He leaned over and caught one of the flailing hands, feeling the faint tremble in the thin fingers. "Yeah, I have. And yeah, I will, we can." Joe felt his smile stretching to his ears. Farris looked dazed. Joe tugged him forward, cupped the back of his head and drew him into a kiss.

* * *

"I guess it really does matter more who the person is than the plumbing" Farris remarked after a satisfactory interval, more than a little breathless. "You learn something every day."

Joe could only concur.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Spinning Back Around](https://archiveofourown.org/works/492566) by [lferion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lferion/pseuds/lferion)




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